Computer



Feb. 11, 1947. f P. B. DUB- 2,415,581-

COMPUTER Filed Jan. 5, 1945 uns avffza a 11 J 7E f" ,f/ l v/ff, 10

f @ya l P@ferm,

yPatented Feb. 11, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMPUTER Peter B.Doub, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application January 5, 1945, Serial No. 571,701

(Cl. 235-89) l 3 Claims. 1

My invention relates to improvements in computers and more particularlyto that type which is used for determining withholding tax exemptions inconnection with wages of employees. rlhe primary object of thisinvention is the production of a simple and inexpensive device which iseasy and simple to operate and by the use of which the employer canquickly and accurately determine the amount of taxes to be withheld fromwages .to be paid at daily, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly cr monthlyperiods, according to the number of withholding exemptions whichareapplicable to the employee.

To these ends my invention comprises the features of construction andcombination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing forming part oi this specication, Fig. 1 isa plan of my improved computer; Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line2-2 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is another section taken on the line 3-3 ofFig. l.

In the drawing, A is a suitable base or back having a pair of parallelinwardly facing channel members Ill and Il on its longitudinal sideedges and an inwardly facing transverse channel member i2 across itsfoot end. The base or back is ilat and the channels are substantiallyeven in height above the surface of the base so as to hold suitablerectangular shaped charts B upon the surface of the base by engagingtheir side and transverse edges in said channels. The head end of thebase is open, that it has no channel member, whereby it is free toreceive the charts in sliding engagement with the pair of side channelmembers and into engagement with the transverse channe1 at the oppositeend of the base. In this manner the device is capable of holding anydesired number of superimposed charts. A shoulder I4 oi suitable heightacross the open end of the base serves to removably hold any desirednumber of charts engaged by the side and end channel members.

A thin rectangular transparent face plate D, made out of Celluloid orother transparent material corresponding in shape and size with thecharts is slidingly engaged by the channel members over the uppermostface of the charts and retained by the shoulder I4 to protect the chartsfrom abrasion and mutilation.

The charts are inscribed by printing with any suitable data displayingcomputations arranged in longitudinal columns and transverse rows aswill be hereinafter described. Arranged to travel longitudinally abovethe upper face of the charts and movable over the transparent face plateD is an exemption indicating slide E, consisting of a narrow transverseplate composed of metal, plastic or other suitable material having itsopposite end edges engaged by and slidable longitudinally in thelongitudinal .side channels over the base. Said end edges of this slideare parallel and the forward and rearward transverse edges of the slideare preferably parallel and arranged at right angle to the longitudinalend edges so as to extend at right angle across the longitudinal columnsof the charts. This slide is free 'to travel longitudinally by hand inthe side channel members and extends across the charts to be used as agauge to indicate computations appearing in the columns inscribed uponthe faces of the charts as will be hereinafter described. The slidebears down upon the pack of charts including the transparent plate D andholds the pack normally below and substantially even with the surface ofthe shoulder I4 to prevent the charts from moving out of operativeposition in or from the base or back.

My improved computer is particularly although not exclusively adaptedfor use in estimating the withholding tax according to what is usuallytermed the "wage bracket withholding method, or the percentage method.For the wage bracket withholding method, the charts have inscribed byprinting the data necessary in longitudinal columns for computing, onechart being inscribed for each purpose, namely, daily, weekly, biweekly,semimontlily or monthly. In this illustration the weekly wage bracketcomputing schedule is held with its face uppermost in the computer andit is assumed that a withholding tax is to be estimated subject to aweekly wage bracket and a certain number of prescribed exemptions. Thewages paid by the week are shown in the longitudinal wage bracket doublecolumn G, increasing in regular order downwardly, the left hand columnsection indicating the least weekly amount, and .the right hand columnindicating the corresponding upward limitl horizontally to the right inthe right hand section. Arranged in each horizontal row opposite eachwage indication bracket are the corresponding computed amounts ofprescribed withholding tax, the number of withholding exemption columnsincreasing in regular numerical order to the right, in accordance withthe number of exemptions, there being a separate longitudinal column I-Ifor each exemption corresponding with the companion wage bracket.

To estimate the total exemptions for any wage bracket, quickly andaccurately, the slide is moved by hand up or down with either of itstransverse forward or rearward transverse edges l5 or I6 in line withany series of Withholding exemptions appearing in the schedule,corresponding with any desired Wage bracket. Each transverse edgeportion of the slide is accompanied by a transverse row of printedexemption digits I, increasing in regular order numerically from left.to right to indicate the number of exemptions or columns. The row ofexemption digits are fully exposed immediately along both upper andlower transverse edge portion of the slide thus enabling the slide to bereadily used in connection with either the eXtreme upper or lowerportions of the charts.

To facilitate changing the charts so as to expose any one of a number ofcharts to be used in the computer, the base'is formed With an openingI'l at one end in its surface to receive the thumb or lingers of thehand of the user.

While my improved computer has been described for use With a certainprescribed withholding exemption to employees according to certain wagebrackets and wherein the tax to be withheld is made to appear opposite acorresponding index number, either at the forward or rearward transverseedge of the slide, it should be understood that the data inscribed onthe charts and on the slide may be modied and changed to correspond withvarious uses within the spirit of the invention and within the scope ofthe following claims.

I claim:

1. A computer, comprising, a substantially flat base having oppositeside channeled edges, a closed end and an open end to receive andchangeably hold a pack of superimposed charts upon the surface of saidbase, each of said charts hav- Vadapted to register with and indicatecertain of the indicia displayed by the uppermost chart on said base.

2. In a structure as defined in claim 1, the slide having both forwardand rearward fully eX- posed transverse edge portions bearing transverserows'of identifying indicia adapted to coincide and cooperate with thelongitudinal columns of the computing indicia of the charts.

3. In arstructure as dened in claim l, thev shoulder having an openingto receive the thumb or nger of the hand of the operator to facilitatechanging the charts in the base.

PETER Bl. DOUB.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 856,573 Draper June 11, 19071,439,938 Beck Dec. 26, 1922 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 951British 1901

